2191
by 1183 Programs
Summary: The real problem is how you get to know your child and patch together the last eight years so it all makes sense because there's got to be a reason out there somewhere and sometimes the only place left in the galaxy to go is forward.  Shenko.


**Notes**: I own nothing. A bit of batarian racism ahead.

**Bumble Bee**

La'Shan kept herself hidden well, hoping there was no way they would see her or hear her now unless David made a sound loud enough to escape the confines of the large shipping container. She prayed he wouldn't but he was a child and children were-no. No. David would not and she was wrong to think he would give them away. He was a good kid and knew better. His instincts were solid for two reasons: genetics and his mothers actions. He was intelligent and wary, cautious yet adventurous, genius, and still a child. And so far he was putting what he had learned from her to good use. This was not his first test.

She still worried, however, that his stoicism as a child would alienate him from other children when he was able to be around them. She wondered how he would deal with them and she wished to see his reactions and longed to hear his analysis of the human and alien population in general. He only knew was his mother, La'Shan, three less than honorable batarians, and one good batarian doctor.

Where else could his serious understanding of the situation, the process, and the outcome be placed?

His father would have a lot of work to do getting to know his son.

La'Shan smoothed the brown hair on his head. Humans were funny in a way they couldn't help. They were the only race in the galaxy with hair but La'Shan liked Davids. It was smooth and thick like his mothers. And his eyes, how she would miss them. He had her eye shape and color-ice blue with flecks of deep Earths ocean blue around the pupil, and edging his iris was a charcoal gray to meet the whites of his eyes. Just like his mother when they had first met. They were beautiful and La'Shan knew that if she personally had his coloring for her own four, they'd compliment her soft brown skin well. David's skin bordered a soft shade of brown too, something indicative of time spent in the sun and a genetic link to a human race other than his mothers. Perhaps he inherited that from a grandparent for neither of David's parents were so tan by nature. She hoped his father would see it, the resemblance, and see his own ties to his son. It was so very obvious if one knew what his parents looked like and while La'Shan had never met David's father, she had heard the stories and dug up everything she could find about him.

David was a sure product of his parents union, chiseled by his father's nose, lips, jaw, cheekbones, and chin; everything sharpened because of his mother. And she knew that by human standards he was likely to grow up into a beautiful young man.

She hugged him tighter as the shipping container's large door opened and someone cleared their throat. She hoped it was the promised krogan.

"The bumble bee's buzzing in my ears-ears-ears," sang a deep and craggy voice.

La'Shan's heart beat rocketed, pounding against her ribcage. This was it. This was the final moment of trust and hope she had left to give for the next several hundred lifetimes but she'd do it all again if it meant the outcome was as positive as they'd hoped it would be. And in that moment she knew that she was the only good batarian in the entire galaxy and David's mother had been right to tell her that as her son had let go of her hand and taken La'Shan's.

Who else could she trust?

"Where is my litt-le bumblebee?" asked the krogan in sing song, playing at the intelligence his operation had been given.

David gripped her tighter.

"I can't believe you're singing that song," drawled a voice.

Judging from the tone, texture, and resonance it had to be a turian.

"My busy bee. My buzzing bee. My silly little honey bee," continued the krogan. And then he laughed. "A' heh heh heh. Me neither. It's catchy though. Whatever a bee is."

The footsteps continued down the container toward La'Shan and David until they were on the other side of the crate and in a few short minutes, David would no longer be in her arms. There was no way to back out of Operation Bumble Bee now. All of the coded and hidden correspondence, all of the worry, the sneaking, the lies, they would be worth it! Hope stirred in her gut as the krogan's head came into view, staring at them in the dark, its bright blue eyes and dilated pupils glowing against blue lit lines of his armor, taking them in as the turian boxed them in from the other side. She hoped no one had spotted them coming in lit up as he was. Maybe the lights turned off. David did not need to be a target on the way to safety.

La'Shan recoiled, tucking David behind her with force and glared back at the krogan.

"My David bee," it sang, smiling. "Bzzt bzzt bzzt, Shepard. Let's get you off this shit hole-no offence lady," it laughed. "Ah heh heh heh. Move out squirt."

David pushed his way around La'Shan, still hugging her. She could feel his heart pounding and she could feel the data pad she'd given him with all of the holos she could find downloaded to it, each of them pictures of his mother and the people she had told him stories about. This krogan and the turian were two of the people in the holos.

He would also need the files on it as well. The Systems Alliance would need them to reverse their politically fueled and Earthborn decision to hand Shepard over to the batarians.

The krogan held out its hand and David reached out but La'Shan snatched him up, hugging him, and tucking his face into her neck. "I love you," she whispered harshly. "Your mommy loves you too but it's time for you to go with them, okay?"

David nodded against her and wrapped his small arms around her neck in a fierce hug.

"You should probably come with us," said the turian, "both of you so he has a familiar face on board."

"And leave his mother? Never!" spat La'Shan. "I'm going back and pretending like none of this happened. You have no idea what we had to do to come here. None. They'll assume someone's finally gotten to him and that he's dead."

"Seriously?" asked the krogan.

"Yes. Hopefully they'll leave it at that and without David there's nothing to hold over her head. Somebody has to watch her, help her, and keep her from getting herself killed."

"You're keeping Shepard from getting killed?" grunted the krogan. "Very funny."

"Yes. Do you think she's had much chance to survive properly here on Khar'shan?" She rounded the crate, setting sDavid back behind her and both men moved back, giving her room. "I understand why things had to be done the way they were and that destroying the Alpha Relay had been a wise decision. I lost family and while it hurt, I saw the Reapers in this galaxy just as you had."

"Well I doubt it was just as we had," mumbled the turian.

"The batarian vendetta against Shepard is ill placed and she has her own race to hold responsible for her time here as well. Earth and its leaders had overridden the Alliance and handed her to my government! It's sickening on both parts but like Shepard says, that's politics for ya."

"I believe that was Alenko but that is neither here nor there," he sighed. "Listen, you're the only one of your people that get it then and as much as I'd like to stand around and chat about diplomatic policies and peace treaties, and why you should be the first and only batarian spectre, David's father is waiting and I've got a sniper out there ready to kill in the event we're delayed too long."

"Why isn't Commander Alenko here?" she hissed, combing her fingers through David's hair again as he stood at her side.

The krogan huffed. "You're kidding me right? He's a wreck. He wouldn't be able to walk into this container without falling over right now. His son is here and his son's mother is somewhere close by and we can't get her out of here yet," said the krogan. "And as much as that bothers me, I'm allowing the human this one weakness because it's Shepard and Shepard is my battle master."

The turian touched the side of his head. "Joker this is Archangel. We've got the Bumble Beetle Bee thing and from the look of it, he's a little one."

Archangel. The Archangel?

"Roger that ground team. Let's get him outta there. Daddy's freaking out up here…I mean…he's like crying and shit. Well, he's about to. Maybe he'll just crack."

"Oh that is gross," said the turian. "Come on kid."

He nodded to the krogan.

"Come on kid," he said.

La'Shan scooped David up, hugged him one last time, and set him on the ground. He turned around. "Thank you," he said in his raspy little voice, looking over his shoulder. "Tell mommy we'll be back for her soon."

"Maybe sooner," said La'Shan. "Maybe sooner," she repeated as her nose stung and her eyes stung. "Oh and if he gets scared, please tell him a story, preferably one about Thane Krios. They're his favorite."

"I like his stories," he whispered.

La'Shan took that as a good sign. He was holding up well.

The krogan scooped him up, turned, and started for the door. "Krios, eh? I've got quite the story for you about him," he grunted at David. "All kinds of stories."

"Thanks again," said the turian.

"There will be no more communications from here on out. It's getting too dangerous and with David gone, they'll be monitoring my actions with Shepard much more intensely. But there is good news and it's all on a data pad in the pocket sewn into his jacket.. You'll be back sooner but we still thought he should leave sooner than later."

"Spit it out," snapped the turian.

"There is confirmation that they have been mistreating her."

"Against the signed contracts and rules of war and diplomatic treaties?"

"Yes. The batarians consider them void because we are not technically at war. I've documented everything they've done to her that I could. Every mark. Every scar. Every scratch. Each bit of weight lost and oh, David's medical records are there as well. He's had excellent medical treatment as batarians are at the forefront of medicine," she pushed with pride.

"Nearly a redeeming quality but not quite enough. Either way, good work-excellent work. Thank you again, La'Shan," he said, turning and walking away.

"You're not supposed to know my name!" she called out after him.

"David's parents are spectres."

"And you are?"

"Vakarian. Garrus Vakarian," laughed the turian . "I've always wanted to say that," he said, walking out into the moonlit night.

La'Shan smiled knowing David was in good company. Garrus Vakarian. It had been him and he had left her wondering if his codename had meant more. It couldn't be anyone other than the Archangel. She correlated her information to Shepards stories of Omega and grinned. She felt a little better now, cautious but less weary.

She waited a few minutes, clearing her omnitool of any trace of the different translator languages she had employed for the evening. It would not do for a routine daily check of her overseers to show the turian and krogan languages. English for use with Shepard was the only language allowed for her unit. La'Shan looked up the moon lit sky Garrus Vakarian, a krogan who could only be Urdnot Grunt, and David Shepard had wandered out into and then at the sands before her. Two sets of footprints led away and she smiled again. They were carrying David to his new home.

Despite that, her heart beat rapidly. It felt like it had been beating like this since morning's light and with that, she walked out into the night, back toward the road and the metal scrap yard.

As she stepped onto the road, scrap yard behind her, the scent of cigarettes filled her nostrils but she kept walking, playing oblivious-unknowing-unobservant until a vehicle door closed and the engine of an APC revved behind her. She wondered how many were in the carrier and how long it would take.

She wondered if it would be quick or if they would take her back and interrogate her as they had Shepard five years ago. It had been a nonstop cruel investigation turned sport. She knew. She knew it all. And now there was nowhere for her to run, nowhere to go but with them or the ditch on the side of the road.

**SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2 SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2**

David Shepard sat between the aliens. One turian. One krogan. Across from him sat a drell with a sniper collapsed on his back and an SMG at his side. David knew he must have been watching the container, keeping lookout, and acting silent guard. This man would have. This man was David's favorite subject in his favorite stories because his mother had been so…what was the word he saw reflected in the features and marred face. _Affected_ would do.

He cleared his throat and eyed the should-be-dead man. "You're Thane Krios," said David.

"I am. And you are David Alenko?"

"Shepard," he said. "It's Shepard but I know who Alenko is."

"I see," said the drell.

"You're supposed to be dead."

"I am a miracle of science but your mother is even more so. As it is, you are five years old now?"

"Yeah. But you knew that. You have an eidetic memory."

The drells double eye lids blinked as he stared at David, studying him. "Mmhm hmm," he hummed. "And you? Do you also possess one?"

"My mom says you came from the afterlife and gave me a photographic memory but since you're not dead, how'd I get it?"

"Perhaps I sent it to you using some kind of mind trick I was not aware I possessed. On second thought, you are intelligent enough to understand that some things are better left to science and wonder. So, no, I have done no such thing."

"Thank you," said David.

He appreciated honesty.

"I seem to be out of practice with children."

"I understand."

Immediately David reached out across the isle toward the drell's throat but stopped. Thane Krios didn't bother to flinch. David had to remember his manners for all the things racing through his busy memory making mind, he still had to keep himself in check. He was in the company of people he had never met before and he thought it odd that he should know so many stories and never once had met them. Like he knew and knew not. He wondered if they would mind him knowing these stories.

But Krios was still sitting across from him.

He wanted to touch him, the red of his throat vivd even more so than in the holos. It vibrated the air and David could feel it just like his mother said she could. And his voice, raked over his ears in different pitches, some he knew he could hear, others he felt and he found the tone and pitch soothing.

"You have your mother's beautiful blue eyes," said Krios.

"Hers are kinda white now," said David. "See?" he asked, handing out the data pad.

"What have you got there?"

"There's pictures. You're in here too," he said, passing the data pad.

For a brief second David wondered why he was so forth coming with Krios but he felt he could trust him. His mother certainly had. He shot an even glance at the turian-Garrus Vakarian and krogan-Urdnot Grunt. Immediately he preferred the look of Krios. He was aesthetically pleasing to look at. Easy on the eyes as his mother had once told him and symmetrical. David like the symmetry of his features and the defined lines of his body and the black under his prominent lower lip, and the line running down below his nose through the center of his lips and down his chin. He looked quick and stealthy and David knew that where those two concepts _of being_ met, there was a heart thundering adventure to inspire the use of the skill. There was also a way of life.

"Why are you a miracle of science?" asked David.

"Perhaps I spoke incorrectly. I am fortunate of time and circumstance," said the drell, his hand moving out to highlight the notion and his head tipping to the side.

"Just in time then," said David.

Krios shot him a look and grinned.

"Well," grunted the turian.

"No shit," said Urdnot. "Operation Bumbe Bee shoulda been called Project Smart-Kid. Kids that smart are scary."

"I'm not scary!" shot David. "I'm well informed thank you very much."

"I think I read about human children needing nap times," he continued.

"Nap time! I'll show you nap time, krogan. My mom is still down there and now she's by herself!" he shouted. "I'll nap when Alenko gets her off that shit hole."

Krios sighed. "Please apologize to him," he said.

"I ain't apologizing!" snapped David.

"I was talking to Grunt," said Krios. "It would not bode well to introduce a child to a new world with an inferiority complex because you say he is scary."

"Oh. Sorry I yelled at you then."

David took note of his soft tone.

"I understand."

"Listen buzzy bee, I'm sorry. I get that. I'm pissed she was there and there was nothing we could do. There are reasons for it."

"Apology accepted," scowled David. "And she is there not was there."

He turned his attention back to Krios and watched the data pad illuminate in the near dark of the shuttle. David was thankful for enough light to study Krios without needing to recall the data pads contents. He was here, fortunate of time and circumstance.

"May I look through all of these?"

"I'll tell you what's what?" said David, hoping Krios caught onto his tone and inflection.

"Of course," he said moving over to share the rest of the seat with David.

"And I only trust you because my mom does," he warned.

"As it should be. There is nothing wrong with suspicion. I find myself wary of you."

David crossed the short distance between them and sat down and looked up at him. "Why?"

"You're a Shepard. A force to be reckoned with and under the guidance of batarians, I question your morals. That is my honest answer."

"Puh-lease," snickered David. "You're Thane Krios and you have the most proficient up close and personal way to kill a krogan ever used. That and I'm not stupid."

"I see you are quite intelligent and I do not speak in response from your flattery. Well informed, as you had mentioned is an understatement."

"It's not flattery. It's fact. If mom says it serious enough, it's fact. I separate her judgment from the rest of the story and I saw no reason to disbelieve her."

"You question your mother at such a young age in things beyond nap times and choice of snacks," said Krios. "How cognizant of everything you are, not just in judging your situation but your realization and perception of the world."

"It's healthy. We discuss things. Is Kolyat smart?"

"You know of Kolyat?"

"That's his holo right there and it's been a while since he was a child so I assume he has no children of his own yet." said David, pointing at the holo on the data pad's screen. "It's on a timer so I can keep looking through all of them but you can click forward and back if you want to," he said softly.

"So it is."

"Ten minutes out from the _Normandy_," said Vakarian.

He eyed the turian, mindful of the look in his own eyes. He didn't want Garrus Vakarian to misjudge his judgments so for now, neutrality was best. He had been told a lot about Garrus but had yet to determine how to approach him. His eyes turned back toward Krios as he look at the pictures on the data pad. He watched the drell's finger that neighbored his fused fingers trace a picture on the screen. He ran the three fingers over a picture. He sighed and pressed the button to change the picture manually and flinched.

"That's my mom," said David, looking at her for the first time in six hours. He certainly had no problem recalling her in his mind. He had just been preoccupied with La'Shan and waiting, imagining who or what was coming for him. And suddenly it all hurt so much. He didn't understand. His nose stung and his eyes watered and his heart hurt and he couldn't breathe. His legs and arms and toes tingled until he couldn't feel his toes curling anymore. He missed her so much. "Why?" he demanded of the dark. "Why did you come get me?" he hissed, this time demanding an answer of Garrus Vakarian.

Beside him, Krios hummed and David felt it for the brief time it reverberated.

"Vakarian, I asked you a question," he said.

"You were talking to me."

"Surprised you couldn't feel the angry Shepardness coming off him," said Urdnot.

"Barks like Shepard. Bites like Alenko," said Vakarian.

Krios cleared his throat. "Other way around."

"So, you prefer we left you there with her?" asked the turian.

"No. I'd rather I was shipped off to places I don't know with people I don't know and to a dad I don't know or even know if he wants anything to do with me! Maybe he's got his own kids. Maybe he's married. Maybe he doesn't want me or anything to do with my mom and me," he ranted. He figured he had a bit of a right to. And he missed her. "I want to go back. Now."

"She didn't tell you much about your father did she?" he drawled.

"She was selective so I could form my own opinions of him," he said, careful of any waiver in his voice. A strong front is what mommy had taught him and behind that front, a strong heart and will too. "Why promise me he'd be there if we ever got of Khar'shan when he could have his own family? There's no way for her to know."

Feeling like the shock of leaving Khar'shan and more importantly his mother, David began to shake as a new and more forceful wave of shock settled in.

"Come here," said Krios, grunting.

David felt himself being shifted and at once surrounded by the scent of leather and gun oil and something clean. David buried his face in whatever surface was available as it all crumbled. A scaled hand grazed his cheek and fingers ran through his hair. He could hear and feel Thane's voice against his other cheek and in his ear. David gripped at the drells jacket and held on but he wanted to burrow further in so he squirmed. He was lifted from his position and placed to faced Krios who pulled him back in. David buried his head back into the smooth red of the assassins neck and wrapped his limbs around him while longer and stronger arms circled him until he felt hidden.

This nightmare was happening.

David unwound his arms and tugged the jacket closed around him as best he could until he was hidden from the boxed in world of the transport shuttle behind the broad collar.

He stay curled around Thane Krios.

Garrus Vakarian spoke softly, "docking with the _Normandy _in five minutes." He cleared his throat. "I see why Alenko sent you. Kids are scary. And I mean in the general sense. No complex aiding, abetting, or harboring here."

Krios scoffed. "Children are frightening and they intend to be so the least, although, though they seem to excel at scaring adults; their parents the most."

"It's all a secret childhood ploy we evolve into teenage deceptiveness," said Vakarian.

"You truly believe that?" asked Krios.

He sighed, "not really but it happens either way. And they're still scary."

"Krogan children aren't afraid of a damn thing," added Urdnot.

"Does he look like a krogan to you?" asked Krios.

"He's not ugly enough," scoffed Vakarian. "He's not turian but judging from what I know of human children-"

"Absolutely nothing," Krios smarted. "If I have correctly recalled the group of human kindergartners walking through Zakera Ward three days ago…"

"Right well, you have. He looks like a cute kid. They weren't. Too loud. Too obnoxious. They deserved the scary face. But babies, most alien babies are cute anyway…except for krogan. Something to do with exaggerated juvenile features. Even krogan children have bitty eyes."

"You mean beady eyes?" asked Krios.

"Initially, no but now that you mention it, all that malice? Yeah," he wondered. "Serious malice. Gives me the creeps."

"They are small," muttered David against Krios' neck. He sniffed, not wanting to snot on the retired assassin. "Bitty beady eyes."

"The kid's right. But just because you can't drop kick a human kid doesn't mean you can't a krogan," argued the krogan.

"Are you joking?" Vakarian cried out. "Who does that?"

"It's real cute when they go flying across the room. They just laugh and fly right across…until they…and then there's…the wall…yeahyoudon'tdothatwithotheralienbabies. Right. Well, keep him away from me. Too soft. I'd hate to break him."

"We intend to," said Krios.

"You can't be serious?" snapped Garrus.

"What?"

"Drop kick them?"

"Because they're little and cute and-"

"You would drop kick David?" asked Krios.

"Sure. Look at him. He is cu-…oi, shut the hell up," growled Urdnot.

Thane Krios' grip on David tightened and he felt his chest rumble with Thane's. He supposed Krios was laughing even if it was quiet. That was a good thing. And the krogan wanted to drop kick him, which meant he didn't want to feed him to varren or kill him because he kicked krogan kids. Grunt thought he was a cute kid. Mommy and La'Shan did too. Would it be so bad if Urdnot Grunt did as well? This was a lot to get used to.

"You'll still need supervision around him," said Vakarian. "For your own protection."

"What's that supposed to mean?" howled Urdnot.

"Shepard-Alenko. Offspring. Hello. Enough said."

"He is implying that David already possesses the skill to dispose of you if need be," said Krios.

"Exactly," whispered Vakarian.

David felt a little better about that and thought it was alright if he closed his eyes and stayed comfortable. He was safe with Thane and Garrus. Grunt…well, he was good for now. And he was warm and this was the third person to ever hug him and it was a good embrace, not someone grabbing him by the back of his neck while mommy raged like a bull until they stopped. Of course it never really got her anywhere but right where the batarians wanted her but she had always kept David safe. Always. She was good at that.

**SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2 SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2-SR1-SR2**

Kaidan Alenko kept his post on the Engineering deck and kept in mind his duty: staring out into the near empty Shuttle Bay. This was insane. He was about to meet a child Admiral Hackett had informed him to be the father of. Fa-ther. Kaidan let his grip on the railing go and itched his sweaty palms. This was almost too much. Too overwhelming. And Joker per his orders had kept the Normandy as far from Khar'shan as the shuttle would allow. Sure it made for a long flight for the ground team but they had all agreed it kept Kaidan far from the planet. And that meant it kept him away from Shepard and any and all hell he wished to raise…specifically anything that involved him inventing a way to nuke the entire planet and glass it without proper supplies before the batarians even knew they were there and gone. He was damn sure there was a way. Real damn sure.

Then again maybe killing each one individually and removing their eyes would work. He sighed. That was a little overkill…uh no.

He wanted to make the Alpha Relay look like a joke. Why stop at 350,000 when there was an entire planet and other batarian planets; Anhur, Aratoht, Camala, Logasiri, and Lorek out there just waiting to be eradicated of its inhabitants, their culture, their entire way of life, and all the batarian socioeconomic and religious stratification bullshit that went with it? It was their home world so why not hit 'em hard right in the hearts. Shepard had been right that one time and she wasn't racist. Neither was he. He was just sick and tired of batarians and the subalien-subhuman things they were prone to do and kept doing. Example: slave trade, which included murder, kidnapping, invasion, etc. They were pig fucking sons of whores, cock sucking, cum guzzling, pieces of shit. Extreme? Not in this case. Saints and jerks? He chose jerks. This might have been bigger than that and Kaidan understood the fine line between racism, allowing it once, letting feelings or thoughts go unchecked until it morphed into natural thought, carried over to every other race, the final result: becoming a full blown racist. And she had never gone out of her way to bring harm to any batarians unless they were owed it fairly. Just like anyone else.

Maybe he'd just been dealing with the scum of the galaxy for so long that he was overlooking the good batarians of the galaxy.

"Yeah right,' he mumbled, trying to think of a few.

He'd had yet to meet one yet that had been "cool," though his five year old son was about to arrive who had apparently grown up around batarians and Shepard. Maybe. He had no clue. This was speculation. The holos and short blip of an audio file could only exhibit so much and as a result, there was no limit to Kaidan's fears as to how David and Shepard had been treated. If they weren't of the batarians, they didn't even have a place in their rigid caste system. Bottom was bottom and to them Shepard was lower than that. Even if she and David were the lowest of the low, there was no guarantee that the boy had ever had any face time with his mother aside from the lone file.

The thoughts ran through his head again. _Jesus! Gun toting, Reaper-slaying, Life Defying Shepard was a mother. He was a father._

Their ground contact had called David-David-his name was David-probably after Anderson-and she, this La'Shan had referenced him as Bumblee Bee because Shepard had called him a "busy bee" and so had the amazingly wonderful, kind, generous, understanding, only intelligent batarian woman. Saint.

Each amazing message had been encrypted, coded, locked down, tied up, and a pain in the ass for the Alliance to break but it had been done.

Then Kaidan had received that audio file. It was Shepard and his raspy voiced son singing a song about bees and then Kaidan had heard his son giggle for the first time and he had heard Shepard laugh for the first time in five years-forget the talking-forget the singing-no. No. She was singing to their son. Even now he wanted to separate all of it and put it back together again until he could understand what it all really meant.

He had a son.

He had a son.

He…yeah.

Kaidan's forehead slammed into the glass and he turned his face left so he could feel the cool surface and he let out a sigh.

He didn't even know what David looked like because none of the holos or vids had shown him. A lot of good they had really but at least they had the lay of the land when the time came and it had come and the result was flying toward the _Normandy_. What would one more have hurt?

Answer: security.

Link: faces.

Answer: painfully obvious. Cover blown. Operation blown.

Conclusion: intelligence overrides wants, wishes, hopes, panic, and ultimately wins.

Casualties: a few more hairs committing mutiny and going gray. Also, tears.

Worst Possible Scenario Ever: losing Shepard again-again-again. And this time it would be final.

Then it occurred to Kaidan that David might not really be David. What if the batarians had sent some child that had been the result of human slavers, delivering him to Kaidan with a bomb strapped to his body as a child terrorist. He had been very vocal about Shepard not being handed over to the batarians and maybe they thought they'd just blow him up along with as many of the Normandy's crew as they could. No, that was egotistical. He knocked it back, as far back as his throat, welling with fear would allow him-if only the feeling would pass by his swollen tongue.

Kaidan's heart raced and he backed up to the wall, sliding down it, and sat down.

He had learned since Shepard's death, the Project Lazarus research files and capabilities, and the Reapers that nothing was impossible. Not really anyway.

There was no way. He was just feeling hysterical and useless and so over his head and terrified that everything was mixing up in his head and swirling-spiraling out of control. This would be David. David would be real.

But what had it been like for Shepard?

"Docking; one minute," came Joker's voice.

Kaidan exhaled deeply.

"And Garrus mentioned something to me about batarians breaking signed prisoner agreements. Something about mistreatment of Shepard being a possibility. Oh and he has documentation," said Joker. "We'll have to make another run for her. We're not stocked-"

"For a Shepard-sized battle," mumbled Kaidan. "FUCK!" he yelled, jumping agilely to his feet.

"We've done big shit with fewer resources," said Joker.

"We need to see it first or we'll all be handed over as soon as she's coming back," muttered Kaidan more to himself than the comm.

"Understandable. Why fuck up a sure thing, Alenko?" sneered Joker. "Alright. Sorry about that. We'll wait. One home planet versus us in batarian space, still in the Terminus…not yet. We'd all be court-martialed or hung and then the batarians would declare war on every race in the galaxy. No. Just no."

"It's fine," he sighed.

"Docking," said Joker.

The shuttle bay doors opened and closed behind the transporter and Kaidan rushed to the elevator and pressed the button in rapid succession, twelve times.

He watched as Grunt and Garrus made their exit. Garrus' sharp blue eyes met his own and the turian grinned, his mandibles flaring out. Experience and consensus of turian facial expressions set his senses on high alert. That was a shit eating grin.

"He is definitely yours," said Garrus.

"Yeap," said Grunt. "I can't believe my battle master spawned with you."

"Excuse me?" shot Kaidan.

"I knew she was great but her senses concerning choice of mates were…well, I'll be asking her for advice when we get her back. I might have underestimated you. I just never though.-I mean, you're good but Shepard's better. Bet she'd beat you in a fight."

"Why is it that you are not the first krogan I have heard that from?" asked Garrus.

"She can pick my mate for me but don't let it go to your head, Alenko. Tuchanka's different and breeding there involves more than your dick and quads thinking for you. Breeding intelligence doesn't mean you've spawned skill."

"I love Shepard," he said.

"And sometimes love isn't enough," said Grunt before stalking off toward the bench near the elevator. "Gotta size em up."

"I'm pretty sure Shepard and I had all the sizing up time we needed to do the deed, Urdnot," said Kaidan.

"Hmpf. Good point. I'll be there," he said, pointing at three crates stacked against the wall.

"Yeah. We'll be over here in case you need backup," said Garrus. "On second thought, maybe Thane is better back up for this kind of thing. He being a daddy and all…although that turned out not so umm-always a work in progress isn't it?"

"Thanks," sighed Kaidan.

Garrus pat him on the shoulder as he passed and took a second to squeeze. "Good luck."

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait, please," he heard a raspy little voice from inside the transport beg.

"Okay. What are we waiting for?"came Thanes voice.

Kaidan neared the door but stayed out.

"What if he doesn't like me?" the voice whispered.

"He will."

"How do you know?"

"You're his."

"Me-as a person I mean."

"I see. Well, you are very much like your father-compulsive worry and analysis of the situation at hand. He will like you. He will love you. Perhaps you would like to speak with him first and then you can come out after you have had the opportunity to size him up. And he will wait outside while you talk. I am sure he's quite worried about the same things. Besides, there is a geth aboard I am certain you would like to meet."

"He's out there already? C-can you check? And-and that geth is here? The same one? Legion?"

"Certainly." Thane stepped out of the shuttle, eyes already on Kaidan. "He's here. To your left, just outside the door."

"Kay. Thank you," called David. "Ohh but wait. Wait please."

Thane nodded and Kaidan grimaced.

"I suspect this is scarier than a child gasping for its first breath outside the womb. They can't speak yet and are in no position to pass judgment on their parents but I have no doubt you will do fine. Better than I," said Thane.

"That was not comforting," muttered Kaidan. "They only need stuff at that point and this is…well, at least he can tell me what's wrong if I don't know."

"It was not meant to comfort you. Your children are supposed to scare you but what you said is very true. Not knowing is like holding a gun without ammunition while blindfolded in a room of adversaries who have taken cover and have no scent. Shepard is like that also."

Kaidans eye twitched. "I feel like that," he scoffed. "I'm freakin' out."

"Freakin' out? Ah, yes. That sums it up," smiled Thane. He hummed. "Excuse me again but David knows you are just as nervous as he," said Thane. Then he leaned in. "He is unsure whether you want him around, May I also suggest you making your position concerning Shepard known? He knows little of you for reasons of safety and peace of mind."

Kaidan sucked in a quick breath and let it go as Thane returned toward the darkness of the shuttle. Time to meet David Shepard-Alenko? What if he was a Shepard and didn't want to even be an Alenko! Now or ever?

Oh Jesus. He was going to meet a kid who was more than likely going to reject the hell out of him.

And Kaidan knew he wouldn't blame him.

"Would you like a sitrep?" came Thane's voice.

"Please," came David's hoarse voice, a voice Kaidan was falling in love with each time he heard it.

"He is, as he says, freakin out."

"So we're on even ground?" David asked.

He sounded relieved.

"Quite. Very much so in fact that I would suggest you not giving him too hard a time."

"How did you-"

"Bees sting when threatened," said Thane.


End file.
